I felt the need to go back and revisit some of the books on this list I’ve been compiling since January 1st to see how these titles stood up since I spent the first six months of 2014 reading for work, and the second-half mostly for pleasure. What I came away with was the realization that I couldn’t think of another year where new literature brought me so much joy as much as 2014 did. Sure, I was reading a lot of it for work, but books really filled me with tons of joy in an otherwise grim year.

Here’s hoping books keep bringing me that much happiness and the bad news slows down in 2015 and beyond.

I’m speaking metaphorically here, in some cases. There’s certainly some geography involved here, and more than a little time, but either way: the trio of books I’m discussing today all veer in on a particular place, sometimes in time, sometimes not. And that sense of place is indeed neatly captured and relayed via the page in all three cases, with impressive results.

An interview with Rivka Galchen, and a review of her latest; thoughts on Julianna Barwick's new EP and Ariel Schrag's new novel; talking with debut novelists, a profile of Sean Michaels, and more.Read More →